Laff-a-Lympics (TV series)
Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics was a two-hour programming block of Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Running from September 10, 1977 to November 4, 1978 on ABC, the block featured five Hanna-Barbera series among its segments: The Scooby-Doo Show, Laff-a-Lympics, The Blue Falcon & Dynomutt, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, and reruns of Scooby-Doo, Where are You!. During the second season in 1978–1979, the show was re-titled Scooby's All-Stars. This series aired from November 11, 1978 to September 8, 1979 on ABC. The runtime of the package was reduced from 120 minutes to 90 minutes by dropping Dynomutt, Dog Wonder and Scooby-Doo, Where are You!. Each week's program included six cartoon segments: Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (one episode, 11 minutes): Comedy/mystery show about three female teenage detectives and their companion, a prehistoric caveman superhero thawed from a block of ice. Sixteen episodes were produced for 1977-78. Laff-a-Lympics (one episode, 22 minutes): Based on Battle of the Network Stars, this series featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters, including Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Mumbly, and others competing in Olympics-styled events. Sixteen episodes were produced for 1977-78. The Scooby-Doo Show (one episode, 22 minutes): Comedy/mystery show about four teenage detectives and their talking dog, Scooby-Doo. Eight first-run episodes were produced for 1977-78, with 16 made for The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour from 1976-77 re-run following the final first-run episode. Two of the new episodes, as well as two others from 1976–77, feature Scooby-Doo's cousin Scooby-Dum as a recurring character. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (one episode, 22 minutes): reruns of the first Scooby-Doo series, originally run on CBS from 1969-71. The Blue Falcon & Dynomutt (one episodes, 11 minutes each): New episodes featuring the superhero Blue Falcon and his bumbling cyborg dog sidekick Dynomutt, introduced the previous year in the Dynomutt, Dog Wonder segments of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. The new Dynomutt episodes were two-part cliffhangers, of which eight episodes (four stories total) were produced for 1977-78. When the show became "Scooby's All-Stars" during the second season, on November 11, 1978, the The Blue Falcon & Dynomutt and Scooby-Doo, Where are You! segments were dropped and two Captain Caveman segments were broadcast instead of just one. Eight new "Laff-a-Lympics" and eight new "Captain Caveman" segments were produced for the block in 1978-79. The Scooby-Doo Show began the 1978-79 season in reruns, though starting from November 11, seven new episodes (produced for an aborted revival of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! as a separate half hour) were run as part of Scooby's All-Stars. For the 1979-80 season, the block was cancelled and Scooby-Doo became a half-hour show as Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. Laff-a-Lympics said Captain Caveman would resurface on ABC during the latter part of the season in 1980. Laff-a-Lympics was the co-headlining segment, with Scooby-Doo, of the package Saturday morning cartoon series Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show was a spoof of the Olympicsand the ABC television series Battle of the Network Stars, which debuted one year earlier. It featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters organized into the teams (The Scooby Doobies, The Yogi Yahooeys, and The Really Rottens) which would compete each week for gold, silver, and bronze medals. One season of 16 episodes was produced in 1977-78, and eight new episodes combined with reruns for the 1978-79 season as Scooby's All-Stars. Format The sporting competitions that the characters would be called upon to perform in would often be comical and offbeat versions of Olympic sport and scavenger hunts. Each segment took place in a different location somewhere on the planet, including excursions to Africa, Italy, Canada, Washington D.C., and even the North Pole, apart from one event in the last episode, which occurred on the Moon as a climactic ending after a rocket race to the moon was held as the previous event. Each episode was presented in a format similar to an Olympic television broadcast, with hosting/announcing duties and color commentary provided by Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf from the It's the Wolf segments of The Cattanooga Cats (though unlike It's the Wolf, Mildew was no longer voiced by Paul Lynde; he is now voiced by John Stephenson). Non-competing Hanna-Barbera characters such as Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Jabberjaw and Peter Potamus made appearances as guest announcers and judges. Since the show was airing on ABC, Snagglepuss and Mildew wore the then-traditional yellow jackets of ABC Sports announcers. The Laff-a-Lympics competition was based upon a point system. Various events were worth a certain point total for the first, second, and third place winners (usually 25, 15, and 10 respectively, but the last event usually was worth either double points or a larger point bonus for the winner), and the team that had the most points by the end of the half-hour—usually the Scooby Doobies or Yogi Yahooeys—was declared the winner and received the gold medal. Points could also be subtracted for treachery and sabotage, which were the specialties of the villainous Really Rottens team. The "good guy" teams, the Scooby Doobies and the Yogi Yahooeys, were good friends and their respective team members gladly helped each other whenever they got into a jam. The Really Rottens, however, always cheated and pulled dirty tricks—and ultimately they would wind up the losers in most episodes. Much like Dick Dastardly typically the Really Rottens would be just on the verge of winning, before they would make a fatal error at the very end that allowed one of the other two teams to end up at the top. Occasionally, though, the Rottens' cheating technique wouldn't actually be against the rules, with them actually winning in a few episodes (there was even one episode where they won through sheer chance). The final episode, climaxing on the moon, was a three-way tie. Only one complete season of Laff-a-Lympics episodes were produced, with eight new episodes combined with reruns for the second season of Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (billed as Scooby's All-Stars). When it premiered in the fall of 1977, the series consisted of several segments, including "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" (which led off the two-hour program and later was spun off onto its own half-hour show), "Scooby-Doo" and "Dynomutt" (both of which featured a small number of newly-produced segments alongside repeated segments from earlier seasons) and the "Laff-a-Lympics" segments themselves. The show resurfaced in 1980 as a half-hour series on its own (sans the "Captain Caveman," "Scooby-Doo" and "Dynomutt" cartoons) and titled Scooby's Laff-a-Lympics, and was rerun at various other points during the 1980s on ABC. It has also been frequently re-run in later years as Laff-a-Lympics on USA Cartoon Express, Cartoon Network and Boomerang. The Yogi Yahooeys This team drew mainly from the 1950s and 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoons and is the only team made up completely of anthropomorphic animals. Grape Ape is the only post-1962 character in the line-up. Among the members of the Yogi Yahooeys are: The Scooby Doobies " team.]] This team drew mainly from the 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoons, particularly the "mystery-solving" series derived from Scooby-Doo, whose titular character served as team captain. The early production art for the series showed Jeannie from the Jeannie series and Melody, Alexander, Alexandra, and Sebastian the Cat from the Josie and the Pussycats series as members of the "Scooby Doobies" team, but legal problems with Columbia Pictures Television, Screen Gems' successor, prevented it. Hanna-Barbera owned Babu, but Columbia controlled all rights to Jeannie's image. As a result, Babu appeared alone as a member of the "Scooby Doobies". Likewise, Archie Comics held rights to the Josie characters. In the actual series, Jeannie was replaced by Hong Kong Phooey and the Josie characters were replaced by Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. The Really Rottens This team is composed of villainous characters that frequently cheated by either giving themselves an unfair advantage in a contest or sabotaging the other teams (and usually had points deducted from their score as a result). With the exception of Mumbly and the Dalton Brothers, all of the members are original characters, many of whom are based on various characters that appeared in cartoons and comics prior to Laff-a-Lympics. Originally, Muttley and Dick Dastardly were planned as the leaders of the Really Rottens; however, they could not appear as those characters were co-owned by Heatter-Quigley Productions. In their place, Hanna-Barbera used the existing character Mumbly and created the new character Dread Baron. Prior to Laff-A-Lympics, on his original show, Mumbly was a heroic detective rather than a villain. Following the character's revision as the villainous team leader, he remained a villain in Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, which is also Dread Baron's only other role. The Dalton Brothers appeared in 1950s and 1960s shorts (including the 1958 short Sheriff Huckleberry Hound, which featured appearances by Dinky, Dirty, and Dastardly Dalton, as well as their other brothers Dangerous, Detestable, Desperate, and Despicable). However, they were given new character designs for the Laff-A-Lympics series. After Laff-a-Lympics, Dinky reappears in The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound with brothers Stinky (who bears a resemblance to Dastardly Dalton from Laff-a-Lympics), Finky, and Pinky. Among the members of the Really Rottens are: Episodes Season 1 – Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (1977–78) Season 2 – Laff-a-Lympics (1978–79) Production Credits * Executive Producers: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna * Producers: Don Jurwich, Alex Lovy, Art Scott * Directors: Charles A. Nichols, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano * Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto * Based on Captain Caveman and The Teen Angels and Dynomutt, Dog Wonder CREATED By: Joe Ruby and Ken Spears * Associate Producers: Art Scott, Alex Lovy, Lew Marshall * Story Editors: Tom Dagenais, Andy Heyward, Norman Maurer, Ray Parker, Duane Poole, Dick Robbins, Joe Ruby, Ken Spears * Story: Neal Barbera, Haskell Barkin, Joe Bonaduce, Larz Bourne, Jameson Brewer, Bill Butler, Chuck Couch, Dick Conway, Tom Dagenais, Lee Davenport, Tony DiMarco, Earl Doud, Ruth Flippen, Fred Freiberger, Willie Gilbert, Donald Glut, Orville Hampton, Andy Heyward, Mark Jones, Dave Ketchum, Bill Lutz, Larry Markes, Jeffrey Scott-Maurer, Joan Maurer, Michael Maurer, Norman Maurer, Jack Mendelsohn, Bob Ogle, Lee Orgel, Ray Parker, Duane Poole, Howard Post, Paul Pumian, Kimmer Ringwald, Dick Robbins, Dalton Sandifer, Deirdre Starlight, Susan "Misty" Stewart, John Strong, Gene Thompson, Paul West, Harry Winkler * Story Direction: Bill Ackerman, Alvaro Arce, John Bruno, Steve Clark, Ron Campbell, Bob Dranko, Carl Fallberg, Jan Green, David Hanan, Cullen Houghtaling, M. Mike Kawaguchi, Tom Knowles, Michael O'Connor, Tom Patton, Don Sheppard, Bob Singer, George Singer, Paul Sommer, Irv Spector, Howard Swift, Wendell Washer, Kay Wright, Tom Yakutis * Recording Director: Wally Burr, Alex Lovy, Art Scott * Main Character Voices Julie Bennett, Joe Besser, Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Henry Corden, Scatman Crothers, Bob Holt, Casey Kasem, Don Messick, Julie McWhirter, Heather North, Gary Owens, Laurel Page, Alan Reed, Marilyn Schreffler, Pat Stevens, John Stephenson, Vernee Watson, Frank Welker * Additional Voices: John Astin, Ted Cassidy, Janet Waldo, Mike Road, Stefanianna Christoperson, Ronnie Schell, Vic Perrin, Jean VanderPyl, Regis Cordic, Jackie Coogan, Hal Smith, Hettie Lynn Hurtes, Marlene Aragon, Bill Overton, Susan Steward, George A. Robertson Jr., Lennie Weinrib, Jim MacGeorge, Mickey Dolenz, Michael Rye, Hilly Hicks, Barney Phillips, Linda Huston, Pat Harrington, Florence Halop, Allan Melvin, Bill Woodson, Nicole Jaffe, Marla Frumkin, Virginia Gregg, Shirley Mitchell, Alan Oppenheimer, Bill Callaway, Cindy Putnam, Barry Richards, Olan Soule, Vincent Van Patten, Carolyn Jones, Ralph James, Ron Feinberg, Richard Ramos, Mario Machado, Chuck McCann, Al Fann, Robert Denison, Jeff David, Ted Knight, Larry McCormick, Richard Blackburn, Bob Hastings, Joan Gerber, Ann Jillian, Alexis Tramunti, John Vernon, Bob Ridgely, Michael Stull * Title Design: Bill Perez * Graphics: Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke * Musical Directors: Hoyt Curtin, Ted Nichols * Musical Supervisors: Paul DeKorte, La La Productions * Layout Supervision: John Ahern * Unit Director: Ray Patterson * Background Supervision: Al Gmuer * Animation Director: Maurice Pooley * Animation Supervisors: Peter Aires, Tony Guy, Bill Keil, Don Patterson, Jay Sarbry * Assistant Animation Supervision: Bob Goe * Animation Coordinators: John Borsema, David Thwaytes * Key Layout: Larry Huber, Warren Marshall, Terry Morgan * Character Design: Bob Singer Dick Ung, Alex Toth, Lew Ott, Steve Nakagawa, George Wheeler, Donna Zeller, * Layout: Alvaro Arce, Mike Arens, Pete Alvarado, Hal Ambro, Tom Bailey, Dale Barnhart, Lyle Beddes, Dick Bickenbach, John Bruno, Al Budnick, Garnett Bugby, Nino Carbe, Tom Coppola, Todd Curtis, Cory Dangerfield, Charles "Chuck" Downs, David Elvin, Hak Ficq, Owen Fitzgerald, Jim Fletcher, Bob Foster, Rene Garcia, Drew Gentle, Simon Gittins, Moe Gollub, Ric Gonzalez, George Goode, Paul Gruwell, Gordon Harrison, C.L. Hartman, Kirk Henderson, Gary Hoffman, Jack Huber, Larry Huber, Alex Ignatiev, Ziggy Jablecki, Ray Jacobs, Herb Johnson, Homer Jonas, M. Mike Kawaguchi, Boyd Kirkland, Ruth Kissane, Brad Landreth, Bill Ligante, Jack Manning, Warren Marshall, Rosemary McElmurry, Jim Mueller, Steve Nakagawa, Lance Nolley, Dan Noonan, Floyd Norman, Lew Ott, Ted Pettengell, Gerald Pointak, Debra Pugh, Greg Reyna, Tony Rivera, Gene Rowley, Linda Rowley, Tom Roth, Keith Sargent, Glenn Schmitz, Tony Sgroi, Doyle Shaw, Bob Singer, Terry Slade, Roy Smith, Adam Szwejkowski, Martin Taras, Dean Thompson, Greg Thurber, Toby, John Tucker, Mario Uribe, John Walker, Wendell Washer, George Wheeler, Al Wilson, Grant Wilson, Ilych Yamov * Animators: Ed Aardal, Ray Abrams, Fred Abranz, Carlos Alfonso, Hal Ambro, Frank Andrina, Ed Barge, Tom Barnes, Bob Bemiller, Robert Bransford, Oliver E. Callahan, Lars Calonius, George Cannata, Bill Carney, Bob Carr, Rudy Cataldi, Steve Clark, Bobby Clennell, Joanna Romersa-Combellick, Jesse Cosio, Maria Dail, Jim Davis, Daniel De La Vega, Edward DeMattia, Xenia DeMattia, Charles "Chuck" Downs, Joan Drake, Izzy Ellis, Lillian Evans, Marcia Fertig, Hugh Fraser, Kenneth Gaebler, Al Gaivoto, Miguel Garcia, John Garling, Zdenko Gasparovich, Les Gibbard, Mark Glamack, Bob Goe, Fernando Gonzalez, Fred Grable, Alan Green, Jack Hadley, Jeff Hall, Terry Harrison, Bob Hathcock, Jerry Hathcock, Fred Hellmich, Harry Holt, Spud Houston, Bill Hutten, Volus Jones, Ray Kelly, Rick Leon, Hicks Lokey, Ernesto Lopez, Ed Love, Tony Love, Dick Lundy, Ken Muse, Constantin Mustatea, Frank Nakielski, Margaret Nichols, Bill Nunes, Eduardo Olivares, Frank Onaitis, Joan Orbison, Ed Parks, Margaret Parkes, Rod Parkes, Don Patterson, Ray Patterson, John Perkins, Bill Pratt, Anna Lois Ray, Tom Ray, Morey Reden, Lenn Redman, Bill Reed, Veve "Vive" Risto, Arnuflo Rivera, Phil Robinson, George Rowley, Jay Sarbry, Ernie Schmidt, Alan Simpson, Ed Solomon, Ken Southworth, Irv Spence, Mike Stribling, Leo Sullivan, Marie Szmichowska, Dave Tendlar, Dick Thompson, Pauline Trapmore, Bob Trochim, Rich Trueblood, Lloyd Vaughan, Carlo Vinci, Norton Virgien, Russ Von Neida, James T. Walker, John Walker, James Wang, Rosemary Welch, Mike Williams, Allen Wilzbach * Backgrounds: Deborah Akers, Cathleen Alfaro, Fernando Arce, Daniela Bielecka, Dario Campanile, Jim Coleman, Ron Dias, Dennis Durrell, Martin Forte, Rene Garcia, Bob Gentle, Gino Giudice, Ann Guenther, James Hedegus, James Hickey, David High, Paro Hozumi, Michael Humphries, Jimmy Johns, Alison Julian, Richard Khim, Fernando Montealegre, Gary Niblett, Rolly Oliva, Walt Peregoy, Curtis Perkins, Andy Phillipson, Bill Proctor, Michael Reinman, Jeff Richards, Jeff Riche, Craig Robertson, Sera Segal-Alsberg, Gary Selvaggio, Marilyn Shimokochi, Eric Semones, Dick Thomas, Peter Van Elk, Dennis Veinzelos, Gloria Wood * Checking and Scene Planning: Charlotte Finney, Cindy Smith, Debbie Smith, Evelyn Sherwood * Xerography: Robert "Tiger" West, Star Wirth * Ink and Paint Supervisors: Roberta Greutert, Billie Kerns * Sound Direction: Richard Olson, Bill Getty * Cameramen: George Epperson, Jerry Smith, John Aardal, Reba Bement, Dick Blundell, Tom Epperson, Charles Flekal, Curt Hall, Ron Jackson, Bill Kotler, Ralph Migliori, Frank Paiker, Cliff Shirpser, Larry Smith, Norman Stainsback, Roy Wade, Dennis Weaver, Brandy Whittington, Jerry Whittington * Supervising Film Editors: Dick Elliott, Larry Cowan, Chip Yaras * Dubbing Supervision: Pat Foley * Show Editor: Gil Iverson * Film Editors: Richard Allen, Ted Baker, Earl Bennett, Tom Gleason, Milton Krear, Karla McGregor, Terry Moore, Joe Sandusky, Ron Sawade, David Stone, Greg Watson * Music Editors: W.R. Kowalchuk, Joe Sandusky, Chip Yaras * Effects Editors: Tom Gleason, Milton Krear, Mark Mangini, Karla McGregor, Robert R. Ruledge, David Stone, Greg Watson * Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer * Production Supervision: Jerry Smith * Production Manager: Jayne Barbera * Post-Production Supervisor: Joed Eaton Event results Overall standings: * The Scooby Doobies – 14 wins * The Yogi Yahooeys – 7 wins * The Really Rottens – 2 wins * One three-way tie Special Guest Stars * Alan Reed – Fred Flintstone (first appearance) * Henry Corden - Fred Flintstone (replaced Alan Reed after his death) Cultural references * Laff-a-Lympics was parodied in the Robot Chicken episode "Ban on the Fun." In a segment that parodies Laff-a-Lympics in the style of the 1972 Munich massacre, the Yogi Yahooeys are taken hostage and murdered by the Really Rottens. In retaliation, the Scooby Doobies alongside Snooper and Blabber arm themselves and kill the Really Rottens. The sketch itself lampoons the theatrical trailer for Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich. The sketch featured Blue Falcon, Boo Boo Bear, Captain Caveman, Daisy Mayhem, Dinky and Dirty Dalton, Doggie Daddy, Dread Baron, Dynomutt, The Great Fondoo, Hong Kong Phooey, Huckleberry Hound, Mumbly, Quick Draw McGraw (as El Kabong), Snagglepuss, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Dum, Scrappy-Doo (who was never a member of the Scooby Doobies), Shaggy Rogers, Snooper and Blabber, Wally Gator, and Yogi Bear. * The series was also parodied in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Grape Juiced" with Grape Ape voiced by John Michael Higgins and Beegle Beagle voiced by Doug Preis. In that episode, Grape Ape is accused of using steroids at the recent Laff-a-Lympics event. Yakky Doodle, Grape Ape's teammate from the Yogi Yahooeys, also makes a cameo appearance as a witness during Grape Ape's trial. The Magic Rabbit makes a cameo in the episode "SPF" as a victim of CyberSquatting. * The Really Rottens (consisting of Mumbly, Daisy Mayhem, Mr. Creepley, Orville Octopus, and the Dalton Brothers) made a cameo appearance in The Cleveland Show episode "Ship'rect". In the episode, Mumbly is the captain of a boat crewed by the Really Rottens in a Floaterboat Race. Home media releases VHS In 1996, four VHS editions of the show were released in the USA on the NTSC format, each containing two episodes for a running time of approximately 50 minutes: * Yippee for the Yogi Yahooeys! * On Your Marks, Get Set—Go Scoobys! * Something Smells Really Rotten * Heavens to Hilarity, This is it, Sports Fans! At the same time in the UK a "bumper special" VHS tape was released in UK on the PAL format containing the following episodes (The UK episodes of this series were the US episodes divided in two with just 1 location per episode): * Grand Canyon * Ireland * Israel * Swiss Alps * Tokyo * Acapulco * Bagdad * Florida * China * Italy * Kitty Hawk DVD The first four episodes were released on Region 1 DVD on January 19, 2010, as Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, Volume 1. Target released an exclusive second volume with the next four episodes on the same day titled Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, Volume 2. The volume would released to other stores on October 19, 2010. A new DVD entitled Scooby-Doo! Laff-a-Lympics: Spooky Games was released on July 17, 2012. the set contains an all-new Scooby Doo special "Spooky Games", plus 12 episodes of Laff-a-Lympics on a 2-disc set, to complete the first season following up from the first two volumes. This new set includes an UltraViolet digital copy of all 12 contained episodes. Later in the year Warner Brothers shop renamed this release "Laff-a-Lympics: The Complete First Collection". There have been no official Region 2 releases of this series to date. However, a Region 2 version of the Scooby-Doo! Laff-a-Lympics: Spooky Games DVD has been released, being only a separate version of the first disc from the R1 set. therefore, only 4 episodes are available on Region 2, but missing the 1st 8 episodes of the series, which would be the 1st 2 volumes that have yet to be released in that region. Region 4 has got Volume 1 and 2 in July 2010. References }} Category:Laff-a-Lympics